


life's sweet as honey

by bubutterfly



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Soulmates, Crack Treated Seriously, M/M, Oikawa is confused, chocolate uwu, iwa chan is lost, maybe or maybe not?, milk bread as a plot device lol, no beta we die like daichi, somehow i slip a valentines day special in, taste soulmate au, they're both repressed, tooru oikawa's favorite food is milk bread
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-22
Updated: 2020-08-27
Packaged: 2021-03-07 02:35:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,983
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26049625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bubutterfly/pseuds/bubutterfly
Summary: “Iwa-chan, what do you know about soulmates?” Oikawa pops the question out of nowhere in the afternoon of one of their practices as they’re picking up balls near the entrance to the gym. Iwaizumi doesn't know how to answer, because his soulmate has been so glaringly obvious ever since he'd been assaulted by the taste of milk bread every day.Iwaoi taste soulmates au! or, making use of tooru oikawa's favorite food is milk bread as a plot device.
Relationships: Iwaizumi Hajime/Oikawa Tooru
Comments: 2
Kudos: 108





	1. tooru oikawa's favorite food is milk bread

**Author's Note:**

> iwaoi soulmate au! the pacing is probably horrible and rushed at the end but um. i hope it's passable <3

“Iwa-chan, what do you know about soulmates?” Oikawa pops the question out of nowhere in the afternoon of one of their practices as they’re picking up balls near the entrance to the gym. Sunlight streams in at a low angle through the open door, basking the two in a comfortable warmth. 

Oikawa Tooru doesn’t remember the first time he met Iwaizumi Hajime. His earliest memory of them is sometime around kindergarten or elementary school; it’s nothing more than some filterless banter that’s nonsensical only in the way that children’s thoughts can be. He remembers that Iwa-chan back then had been less prickly than he was now, in the cute stubborn way that young children are. 

Truly, it feels to Oikawa that Iwaizumi has always been a part of his life, no matter where they're at.

“Soulmates?” He has a strange look on his face. A beat passes in thought as he reaches out to roll another ball towards himself. “Not much. Haven’t really thought about it. Why? Did some girl ask you to eat her baked goods in front of her or something?” 

Oikawa huffs out a laugh in response. Those incidents aren’t as embarrassing as they are slightly annoying, no matter how easily he gives out his polite and indulging smiles. Sure, he gets to eat sweets and snacks for free, but he really doesn’t think he’s going to end up finding his soulmate through them offering him food as a confession gift. 

“Nah, I was just thinking. People are starting to look for their soulmates now that we’re in middle school. I was wondering how it’d be to meet them.” Oikawa turns back to Iwaizumi, arms full with volleyballs that look like they could topple at any moment. He’s grinning, eyes glinting with something akin to a croon. “Speaking of, does Iwa-chan like someone? Aw, who’s the lucky lady? Or is it a mysterious guy? Don’t worry, Iwa-chan I won’t judge! You know you can always tell--”

“Oi! Iwaizumi! Oikawa! Hurry it up back there!” Much to Iwaizumi’s relief, Oikawa’s teasing gets cut short by their coach as they both startle and scramble for the balls they almost let drop. In hindsight, Oikawa thanks his coach for saving him from the possibility of having been pummeled by one of the volleyballs Iwaizumi had been holding had he gotten the chance to finish his sentence.

After that, they don’t touch the topic of soulmates for a while.

****

Iwaizumi Hajime knows who his soulmate is. He’s known for a while now, because really, who else could be causing him to taste milk bread at any given moment? 

But before that, for years, the idea of soulmates was elusive to him. He’d asked his parents about it a little, but hadn’t gotten any more than the ordinary answer somewhere along the lines of “taste” and “you’ll know it when you see them.” (Which really didn’t help at all, because how can you explain to an elementary schooler that they’ll know “the one” just through a feeling when you see them?) The topic was breached occasionally at school, but the teachers would always skim the edges before brushing it off as something that would be taught in middle school. 

Sometimes, he’d see his classmates try to figure their soulmates by buying sour candy or eating things with a particularly distinct taste. He would never admit it, but Iwaizumi also sometimes treated himself to sweets or dessert at random times throughout the day, in hopes that his soulmate would appreciate the taste with him.

He wondered once if his soulmate was living in a different time zone than he was, but based on the fact that he only felt the phantom tastes around his own meal times or in short bursts in between, he felt that it was safe to say that his soulmate was in Japan as well.

And then, sometime in middle school, he found himself spending almost whole days with the faint taste of milk bread at the tip of his tongue. At first he thought that it might have just been cravings getting the best of him. What he found was, well, not exactly what he had been expecting.

In hindsight, it was probably very obvious as to what this meant and he should have been able to decipher it the moment he felt it. 

Oikawa Tooru, his best friend since forever ago, is his soulmate. 

A lot of it made sense. Iwaizumi hadn’t really tasted what his soulmate was eating for breakfast or lunch, because they were almost always eating at the same time. He would always walk to school with Oikawa, so breakfast overlapped more often than not. They ate lunch together from the school cafeteria on most days. Dinner usually happened right after they got home from practice. 

That said, the idea of it still scared him a little. Sure, he’d known Oikawa his whole life. They were practically sharing blankets at newborns. They had grown up with each other, and to Iwaizumi, Oikawa was just as much of a central character in his life as he was himself. 

Between the two of them, they’d talked about soulmates on the passing, joking and wondering if they could determine whether or not their soulmates were rich based off of the food they were eating. (They couldn’t, they decided in the end.)

But best friends were one thing, soulmates were another. He most definitely wasn’t ready to unpack that particular can of worms and their implications, so Iwaizumi (carefully) had folded the thought back up and pushed it to the pack of his mind. He had more important things to focus on at that time, like volleyball, and beating Shiratorizawa.

Now, a couple of years later, Iwaizumi rarely approaches the topic of soulmates. He’s careful to listen in on the side when the topic comes up in conversations, but avoids getting involved once it gets directed to him. 

It’s not an easy task, ignoring such a large part of him. It’s always a present reminder when he tastes the same brand of milk bread in the breaks between their classes just before he catches sight of Oikawa waltzing through the door. But he somehow manages, pushing it further and further to the back of his mind, beyond school and volleyball; somewhere he only dares to intrude upon in the comforts and quiet of his room at night. 

To Iwaizumi, Oikawa is...sort of an enigma. Of course, given that he’d known Oikawa longer than just about anyone else, he could say for sure that he knew his friend pretty well. But that didn’t mean Oikawa was any less of a mystery sometimes, especially on days when he gets a glimpse into the boy beyond layers of a frivolous personality. 

He’s more than aware of Oikawa’s flamboyant and theatrical nature (as he’s frequently on the receiving end of it), which he displays proudly to everyone he meets, and he’s very well acquaintanced with his somewhat brash and petty antics as well. Iwaizumi knows of Oikawa’s tendencies to be flirtatious to just about anyone (and anything) that would listen, and he also knows that to a certain extent, it gives off the facade of a smug, if not shallow character. 

But over time, through watching Oikawa through volleyball and their times practically attached by the hip, Iwaizumi catches bits of pieces of Oikawa that is so profoundly disjunct that it almost shocks him the first time he sees it. 

It’s a sharp contrast to what Iwaizumi first thought was Oikawa’s shield of childishness and jokes. (He later finds that it’s not much of a shield as it is truly just a part of him.) It rears its head the most during volleyball, whether it’s at a particularly rigorous practice or at a match against a rival school. He sees it when he watches with nerves clenched tight as Oikawa almost crumbles into himself after their match with Shiratorizawa, through the increasingly intense atmosphere and practices lined with frustration. 

As they start towards high school, he sees it grow into something healthier, something that brings out the best in him, when Oikawa begins to gradually ease into a better understanding of teamwork and striving for “perfection.” And it’s somewhere along those lines that Iwaizumi finds himself wanting for something more with another person for the first time in his life. 

He’s not exactly sure of the _when_ and the _why_ and the _how,_ but the feeling’s more than enough to have him fumbling in mindless and nervous energy for a couple days, before Oikawa’s questioning looks punch his consciousness enough for him to snap himself out of it. 

Their differences are rather obvious to him. While Oikawa gives out smiles and winks like candy and is a bundle of spirited energy, Iwaizumi finds himself rarely truly laughing or comfortable with crowds like his friend is. Oikawa is the type to make heads turn and bask in the attention, while Iwaizumi is, comparatively, more ordinary. The difference doesn't hurt him as much as it makes him consider their individual dynamics a little more.

Oikawa, as per usual, stays oblivious to his musings, of course. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> next chapter takes a look into oikawa's thoughts yay! personally i find their dynamic a little hard to write bc i suck at dialogue lol and so it's a challenge;; but i love them too much to not write it.


	2. head empty, no thoughts

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> yay chapter 2 and sum oikawa!
> 
> oikawa gets enlightened, proceeds to...pursue a career as a chocolatier?  
> iwaizumi gets a mouthful of orange (unfortunately)

“Iwa-chan~” Oikawa greets Iwaizumi with a large smile as he meets him outside the house. “Did you have a nice breakfast? I think my soulmate had tofu this morning. I woke up late so I didn’t get a chance to eat, but I did taste their breakfast.” 

Iwaizumi scoffs in response as they start towards school. “You probably spent too long styling your hair to eat anyways.” He glances at the milk bread that Oikawa’s unwrapping. “And they probably only taste your milk bread for the whole day because you eat so much of it.”

Oikawa takes a bite, wordlessly brushing Iwaizumi’s comment off by sticking his tongue out at him. He’s rewarded with a smack from Iwaizumi’s bag. 

The soft taste of milk bread blooms in Iwaizumi’s mouth, warming it gently.

The sun’s just about rising, slow and late in the mid January morning, and a chill wraps around the two of them. Iwaizumi’s not sure what brought the subject of soulmates on, as neither of them really talk about it to each other.

The rest of the walk to school is filled with banter that’s strangely marked by the occasional mention of soulmates. Other than the strangely out of place conversation, nothing seems out of the ordinary in the morning. The early morning air is minty and fresh, just starting to warm from the late sun. If either of them find their morning bizarre, they don’t mention it, as usual. 

****

Sunlight glances off the snow outside and draws the room even brighter. Outside, there’s a beautiful layer of fresh snow that envelopes everything in silence. Oikawa, however, has no time to admire the scenery. Oikawa, it seems, has fallen in love with his best friend. (How cliche. How shoujo-romance of him.)

He’s not really sure what to do with revelation other than to have his mind buzzing at a hundred miles per hour, filled with absolutely nothing and everything at once. He flushes just a little at the thought as it floats through him again.  _ Love.  _ How scary.

For a while, he doesn’t do anything but sit with this new feeling. He feels warm and nervous at the same time, his mind only cycling through Iwaizumi and nothing else. Head so full, many thoughts. 

Then, his mind drifts to less welcoming thoughts.  _ What if you’re not soulmates _ , his mind supplies unhelpfully. Surely they would have figured it out between all those years together, spending their whole lives side by side. Wouldn’t Iwaizumi have said something when he tasted milk bread for days? (Or maybe he would have chosen to stay silent, because that’s just the way Iwaizumi is sometimes.)

If they aren’t then that’s ok, he thinks. Soulmates aren’t everything. Life is more than soulmates, and it wasn’t like law dictated that soulmates were  _ required  _ to get together. Non-soulmate pairs were rare but still around.

But he’s getting ahead of himself now. He doesn’t want to place expectations on anything, because that would only mean that he would end up disappointed if they weren’t soulmates, but he doesn’t want to be completely hopeless either.

With a sigh, Oikawa draws an arm over his face. Maybe it’s just better to leave it for now. They’ll breach the topic soon. Hopefully. Maybe never. While he doesn’t think the misreading into the topic of soulmates would be enough to rock his friendship with Iwaizumi, he’s also not exactly sure how things would play out. Oikawa’s positive that he knows just about everything about his best friend that he could, from his likes to his dislikes, from the big things like what he wants to do in the future to the little things like what type of shoes he’d prefer. But a topic as fragile as soulmates, well...they’ve barely talked about it together, save for the vague discussions with their other friends or those that happen in class.

****

Oikawa gets his first suspicions when he tastes melonpan one evening after practice. Any other day, he would have brushed off the taste as just another connection from his soulmate. But it was earlier that day, just as he and Iwaizumi were walking home from practice, that he had given the pack of melonpan to his friend in lieu of keeping a pack of milk bread. He only remembered it because Takeru had asked him if he had any snacks leftover for him, reminding him of the melonpan he had given Iwaizumi. 

He lays on his bed thinking, then, for the majority of the evening. Thankfully, his homework’s done and packed away neatly in his bag, so he doesn’t have to worry about that for the rest of the night. Instead, his thoughts are flooded with Iwaizumi, and a taunting cloud of  _ what if _ s. He supposes that if Iwaizumi really was his soulmate, then he wouldn’t be mad about it. In fact, he thinks that he would probably be relieved, if not exceedingly happy. 

It could have just been a coincidence, but if it wasn’t, then. Well. He supposes that would solve a number of things like awkwardly getting to know his soulmate when he first meets them, or figuring out their living habits or something mundane as that. 

But he grounds himself. Just a one time coincidence doesn’t have to mean anything. Plenty of people eat melonpan. 

Oikawa decides he’ll have to figure out a way to give Iwaizumi something to eat in a way that doesn’t draw suspicion. 

****

Oikawa, of course, finds that that’s easier said than done, especially when the only time his friend seems to be eating something is either a) while Oikawa is  _ also  _ eating, or b) when  _ everyone else  _ is eating. 

Well, he supposes that there  _ is  _ one occasion where he could make Iwaizumi eat something without having it tipping anyone off, but it’s also not the most...opportune day. 

But that’s no matter, he reasons, as he dumps a small moulding frame and some chocolate into his cart. There’s still the lingering question of how exactly he’ll give it to Iwaizumi, but he’s sure that he’ll figure it out soon enough. 

Giving chocolates to a ~friend~ on Valentine’s Day can be completely, very much platonic, right? You know. Just in case things don’t go as planned. He doesn’t pursue that thought much further, although it lingers dangerously and pitifully at the back of his mind.

Later, Oikawa also runs into the hurdle of making his gift look presentable. And tasty. It’s a little harder than he expects, but he’s willing to set up another batch. Valentine’s Day chocolates have to be pretty, right?

He spends the rest of the night filling detailed molds with swirls of sweet chocolate.

****

On Valentine’s Day, Oikawa’s a bundle of nervous energy. It’s a bit of a disaster in the beginning. He’d been meaning to give Iwaizumi his chocolate in the morning during their walk to school, but things don’t go as planned and they end up having to run to avoid being late. The chocolates seem to burn a heavy weight through his bag as he jogs towards the school gates.

At school, it’s just as hectic, if not even more of a failure on Oikawa’s part. His shoe locker is already half full with letters and boxes of assorted chocolate, and he can spot a couple of girls loitering around the corner in his peripheral. In a rather unwheleming culmination of his troubles, he finally manages to give Iwaizumi his chocolate with an offhanded “let me know if it tastes good,” before grabbing only the chocolate in his locker and heading (quickly) to his class. (Later, he’ll argue that he wasn’t running away at all.)

And then, admittedly a little too late, he realizes a glaring flaw in his logic when he slides open the door to his class. When he had prepared the chocolate for Iwaizumi, he had been planning to prove his suspicions right by tasting the chocolate when Iwaizumi would eat it. What he had somehow overlooked, was that just about everyone else would be eating some type of chocolate that day also.

Yeah, sure he can argue that tasting the sweet pull of chocolate today confirms that Iwaizumi was his soulmate, but so could literally anybody else. His plan is so  _ flawed,  _ and somehow he hadn’t even thought of the holes in it until it’s too late.

As he opens one of the chocolates that was left on his desk, Oikawa slumps.  _ Mint chocolate,  _ he registers in the back of his mind. Just like that, his careful plan has already fallen apart. 

The morning drifts through the school’s initial excitement over Valentine’s Day. Oikawa pays enough attention to not fall asleep in class, but the teacher’s droning voice goes in one ear and out the other like air. He does taste some chocolate sometime through the morning, before lunch, but what can he do about it now? It’s barely any sort of notice, because just about anybody could be eating chocolate at any time. It was Valentine’s Day, for heaven’s sake.

Stuffed into the front pockets of his bag are handfuls of Valentine’s Day chocolates.

But as lunch rolls around, Oikawa catches sight of one of the assorted chocolate boxes and the little tag attached to it. In small, fancy golden letters, the tag details the types of chocolate in the assortment. An idea alights in Oikawa’s mind, pulling him out of his slump. The plan’s so last minute that it's kind of embarrassing (he’ll later admit that his first plan had failed quite badly), but at this point, he concedes that  _ something _ is better than nothing at all.

****

The cafeteria is noisy and cluttered. Oikawa and Iwaizumi carry their lunch trays over to one of the side tables. Iwaizumi gives a curious glance at the seemingly random box of assorted chocolates that Oikawa has tucked under an elbow, but he doesn’t comment on it. 

“You’re gonna get cavities if you eat all of the chocolates you got.” As per usual, they sit across from each other. Oikawa places the box of chocolates by his tray.

“Hm~” he hums, glancing up from his food with a teasing grin. “Is that concern I hear? Iwa-chan’s worried about me? My life’s complete. What a wonderful day to die.” He sighs dramatically in the theatrics that settle so comfortably in him. A foot kicks his leg under the table, and Iwaizumi huffs with long-suffering exasperation.

Minutes pass by quickly as they talk over their school lunches, and Oikawa can’t help but get antsy as they get closer to finishing their food. The busy cafeteria does nothing to soothe his anxiousness, with its crowd of students going in and out of the doors and gathering excitedly over Valentine’s Day gifts.

When they both put their spoon and chopsticks down, he starts to reach for the assorted chocolates in a guise for dessert. It’s a bit of a mental battle to keep his hands visibly steady in a poor attempt at seeming casual. 

A quick look at Iwaizumi confirms that he’s languidly looking through his phone, not particularly paying attention to Oikawa. Oikawa checks the label with the descriptions one last time. If his hands are sweaty, then that’s no one’s business but his. Now or never, he decides.

“Ne, Iwa-chan?” He prides himself in that his voice remains steady. It sounds normal. Good. He picks up one of the assorted chocolates, careful to cradle it in his fingers so that it doesn’t start melting all over his hands.

Iwaizumi looks up from his phone, unsuspecting. Now or never, Oikawa repeats in his head. “Yeah? Are you ready to--”

The look on Iwaizumi’s face is priceless as Oikawa unceremoniously stuffs the piece of chocolate in his mouth, effectively cutting him off. 

The taste of chocolate and something a little less tasty blooms on his tongue.

“Dark chocolate orange creams, right?” Oikawa purses his lips a little, decidedly avoiding looking at his friend while pretending to savor something. “Tastes a little bad if anything. Like gooey orange. Or something.” He pushes a cup of water closer to Iwaizumi. “Iwa-chan, I think it would do both of us a favor to wash that down.”

“...you knew?”

Oikawa sniffs, turning his head away a little. “Hmph, yeah of course I know, Iwa-chan. What do you--” he pauses, backtracking.  _ You knew?  _ “Wait, you knew?” Oikawa can’t tell what’s more exhilarating: the fact that he found out that his best friend is his soulmate, or the fact that Iwaizumi  _ already knew. _

“Um. Yeah?” The tangy and sticky taste of caramelized orange washes away on both of their tongues as Iwaizumi downs the water. Somewhere behind the closed doors of the school kitchen, they can hear the distant clang of pots and pans.

“A-And you didn’t say anything?” Oikawa’s subconsciously aware of how red his face is. If Iwaizumi notices, he doesn’t say anything.

Iwaizumi scratches his cheek, looking a little sheepish. “I didn’t want to say anything until you figured it out.”

Oikawa blanches. Of course. Selfless, smart Iwa-chan would do exactly that even if he found out that Oikawa was his soulmate early on. He would have been the type to stay silent for years if that was how long it took Oikawa to realize it himself. 

With a soft laugh, Oikawa offers up more chocolate to Iwaizumi. He takes one of the caramel types, which they both agree tastes better than the orange cream. He’s sure that at this point his face resembles a stop sign, if Iwaizumi’s flushed look is anything to go by, but he can’t bring himself to care. 

God, this was such a rollercoaster. And a disaster. Finding out about his soulmate in the middle of the school cafeteria through some less-than-gourmet chocolate given by one of his random admirers was definitely far from what he had been expecting. Not very romantic at all.

But it seems that neither Oikawa nor Iwaizumi can bring themselves to care that much about their circumstances, when the rest of the day passes in what Oikawa can only describe as a giddy haze, even as the two separate for the afternoon classes. He’s not quite sure if they’re ready to put a label on anything yet, but he’s confident enough to say that they’re well on their way to  _ something,  _ at the very least.

Two weeks later, Oikawa swears he can taste something sweet mixed with the mint and milk bread when he kisses Iwaizumi under a blossoming sakura tree. It’s all very much cliche, very much shoujo-romance anime, he thinks, but he supposes that he can work with that if it makes up for their rather underwhelming discovery in the school cafeteria. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> oikawa: head empty no thoughts only my attractive best friend and the perpetual fear that we might not be soulmates <3
> 
> ciao anyways umm this was kind of hard to write but it was fun! personally i would have liked to write more of oikawa's ~self reflections~ or thoughts or whatever, but for some reason iwaizumi's came a lot easier in chapter one;;


End file.
